RAWALPINDI, June 21: Pakistan is ranked among the lowest in the world in terms of higher education enrolment rates, standing at merely 2.9 per cent, according to statistics revealed in an official report.

Other Asian developing countries, such as India and South Korea, stand at 10 per cent and 68 per cent, respectively.

At the same time, the quality of education provided is not up to the mark, which can be gauged from the fact that not a single Pakistani university is ranked among the top 500 universities of the world, the report says.

According to a report of the steering committee for higher education in 2001, only 2.6 per cent of the students between the ages of 17 and 23 were enrolled in universities, which increased to 2.9 in 2005.

Public expenditure on education as a percentage to GDP is lowest in Pakistan compared to other countries of South Asian region. Pakistan spends only 2.1 per cent of its GDP on education compared to India, which spends 4.1 per cent, Bangladesh 2.4 per cent and Nepal 3.4 per cent.

The visionary decisions reached by the chancellors’ committee to increase allocations in respect of development and recurring budgets for the higher education sector by 50 per cent each year (till they reach one per cent of GNP for the higher education sector) must be strictly adhered to, if Pakistan is to follow the path of Japan and Korea and develop into a knowledge economy, the report says.

The government targets to double the enrolment in the next five years by increasing the capacity of the existing higher education institutions and also establishing new ones, says the report. Under the proposed plan, the percentage of faculty members in universities and degree-awarding institutions having PhD degree is to be increased to 40 per cent in five years, and thereafter a 10 per cent per annum increase in percentage should occur yearly.

Under the plan, 100 per cent of the faculty should have undergone one to three month training courses emphasising pedagogical skills, communications skills and information technology usage skills.

The plan also envisages enhancing enrolment in universities and degree-awarding institutions to 500,000 in five years, enhancing enrolment to 1,000,000 students in distance education programmes; ensuring that any student obtaining admission on merit is able to obtain higher education regardless of his/her financial condition, improving excellence in learning and research; increasing the total number of people in Pakistan involved with research and development in science and engineering from the current level of 69 people per million to 300 people per million.

The production of indigenous PhDs inside the country would be increased to 1,500 per year. PhD programmes would be introduced in at least 50 per cent of the departments in universities and degree-awarding institutions. Under the plan, there would be a growth of four per cent per annum in the number of international publications of faculty members. The plan also earmarks a 25 per cent growth per annum in external research grants won by institutions from sources other than government sources ensuring relevance to economy.

At least 10 technology incubation parks would be established, while patent applications from engineering universities would be enhanced to at least 20 per cent per institution. The number of joint university-industry projects being undertaken in universities would be enhanced to at least 20 per cent per institution.